Olivia Munn facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Olivia Munn
Munn in 2018
Born	Lisa Olivia Munn (1980-07-03) July 3, 1980 (age 44) Oklahoma City, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Oklahoma (BA)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1999–present
Partner(s)	John Mulaney (2021–present)
Children	1

Lisa Olivia Munn (born July 3, 1980) is an American actress. After an internship at a news station in Tulsa, she moved to Los Angeles where she began her professional career as a television host for the gaming network G4, primarily on the series Attack of the Show! from 2006 until 2010. Munn appeared as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from 2010 to 2011. She is known for her three-season-long portrayal of Sloan Sabbith in Aaron Sorkin's HBO political drama series The Newsroom (2012–2014).

Munn's other acting roles include a recurring role on the television series Beyond the Break (2006—2009) and supporting roles in comedy films Big Stan (2007) and Date Night (2010), superhero film Iron Man 2 (2010), and Steven Soderbergh's comedy-drama Magic Mike (2012). She starred in the supernatural horror film Deliver Us from Evil (2014), the comedy Mortdecai (2015), and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) as Psylocke. In 2017, Munn provided the voice of Koko in The Lego Ninjago Movie, and had appeared in the History Channel series Six (2017). In 2018, she had a leading role in the science fiction film The Predator, the fourth film in the Predator franchise.

Early life

Munn was born on July 3, 1980 in Oklahoma City, to Kimberly Schmid and Winston Munn. Her father is of German, Irish, and English ancestry. Her mother, who is of Chinese ancestry, arrived as a Vietnamese refugee in the United States in 1975, following the Vietnam War, and settled in Oklahoma where she met Munn's father. Munn has a younger brother, John, a physicist; an older brother, James, a custom motorcycle shop owner; and two older sisters, Annie and Sara, the latter of whom is a lawyer.

When Munn was two years old, her parents divorced and her mother married a member of the United States Air Force. The family relocated to Utah, where they resided until 1986. Munn's stepfather was then transferred to Yokota Air Base near Tachikawa in Tokyo, Japan, where she spent her formative years. She has said that her stepfather was demeaning.

When Munn was 16, her mother divorced her stepfather and moved with the children back to Oklahoma City. Munn attended Putnam City North High School for her junior and senior years, then attended the University of Oklahoma, where she earned a B.A. in journalism with a minor in Japanese and dramatic arts.

Career

2004–2009: Career beginnings and acting

Munn at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo

Munn worked as an intern at the NBC affiliate in Tulsa before relocating to Los Angeles. In 2004, she interned at Fox Sports Networks and worked as a sideline reporter for college football and women's basketball. She said that she disliked the experience: "I was trying to be something I wasn't, and that made me really uncomfortable on live TV." She soon moved to Los Angeles, where she was cast in a small role in the direct-to-video horror film Scarecrow Gone Wild. She appeared in rock band Zebrahead's music video for their song "Hello Tomorrow" as the love interest of lead singer Justin Mauriello. She also appeared in National Lampoon's Strip Poker, filmed at Hedonism II, a resort in Negril, Jamaica, with Kato Kaelin. The films aired on DirecTV and In Demand pay-per-view.

In late 2005, Munn began her role as teen surfer Mily Acuna over two seasons of the television drama Beyond the Break, which aired during Noggin's teen block, The N. She enjoys surfing and continues to practice the sport. She originally auditioned for the role of Kai Kealoha, but the producers wanted a "local girl". She also appeared in the film The Road to Canyon Lake.

In 2006, Munn won a contest put out to the public to find a replacement for departing co-host Kevin Rose on the popular G4 network program Attack of the Show! She then began co-hosting with Kevin Pereira on April 10. She replaced temporary co-host Sarah Lane. The network, devoted to the world of video games and the video games lifestyle, was at first hesitant to hire Munn. Although she admits video games were her "weak point", she was confident in her technical knowledge. On the show, she was featured with journalist Anna David in a segment called "In Your Pants", which deals with relationship questions from viewers. While working on Attack of the Show!, she hosted Formula D, a now defunct program about American drift racing, and an online podcast called Around the Net, formerly known as The Daily Nut, for G4. She left Attack of the Show! in December 2010 and was replaced by Candace Bailey. She appeared in the Rob Schneider film Big Stan (2007), where she played Schneider's character's receptionist Maria. She had a significant role in the horror film Insanitarium, where she played a nurse at an asylum.

2010–2014: The Newsroom and breakthrough

Munn at the 2013 Harper's Bazaar Women of the Year Awards

She had roles in the films Date Night (2010) and Iron Man 2 (2010). Robert Downey, Jr. praised Munn for her improvisation skills and led the crew in a round of applause. Munn hosted Microsoft's Bing-a-thon, an advertisement on Hulu for the Microsoft search-engine Bing, on June 8, 2009, alongside Jason Sudeikis. Munn appeared in ABC Family's Greek, portraying Cappie's love interest, Lana. In May 2010, NBC announced that Munn would star on the television series Perfect Couples. The half-hour romantic comedy premiered on January 20, 2011. The series was canceled before it completed its first season run.

On June 3, 2010, Munn debuted in her new role as a correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. She went on to appear in 16 more episodes as a correspondent, with TV Guide naming her signature segment "Tiger Mothering," in which she mocked the high expectations of Chinese mothers, in part by interviewing her own mother. Her last episode as a correspondent aired September 2, 2011. She returned for a brief segment in host Jon Stewart's final show on August 6, 2015.

In 2010, Munn guest-starred on NBC's comedy-drama Chuck as a CIA agent. In 2011, Munn appeared in the comedy film I Don't Know How She Does It (2011) as Momo. In 2012, Munn had a leading role in The Babymakers, a minor role in Freeloaders, and appeared in Magic Mike, directed by Steven Soderbergh. She also appeared in three episodes in season two of FOX's sitcom New Girl.

Munn gained prominence in a lead role in Aaron Sorkin's drama series The Newsroom on HBO. In the series, she played Sloan Sabbith, an economist who worked on the shows fictional news network, ACN, alongside lead anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels). The series ran for 3 seasons from 2012 to 2015. Since then, Munn and her costar Thomas Sadoski have discussed with Sorkin their desire for the show to return.

Munn played a correspondent in "True Colors," the May 12, 2014 episode of the Showtime documentary series Years of Living Dangerously in which she interviewed Washington State Governor Jay Inslee about his efforts to reduce CO₂ emissions in his home state. As of June 2014, Munn has been hired as the main promoter of Proactiv acne cleanser products starring in several commercials and one infomercial for the product. The commercials show Munn experiencing acne herself.

2015–present

Beginning in January 2015, Munn voiced the character Phoebe Callisto on the Disney Junior animated series Miles from Tomorrowland. In 2016, Munn was cast as Elizabeth Braddock / Psylocke (one of Apocalypse's Four Horsemen) in X-Men: Apocalypse. Though the film received mixed reviews, it was a financial success, grossing over $500 million worldwide. The same year, Munn had a leading role portraying a technical supervisor in the comedy film Office Christmas Party.

She also had a starring role in the television series Six as a CIA operative and appeared on Season 13 of America's Got Talent as a guest judge in the season's second Judge Cuts episode. Munn also starred as a biologist in the 2018 science fiction horror film The Predator, the fourth installment in the Predator franchise.

Munn subsequently had a lead role in the Netflix-released romantic comedy film Love Wedding Repeat (2020), a remake of the French feature Plan de Table.

In print

Munn with Deliver Us from Evil co-star Joel McHale at the 2014 WonderCon

Munn has appeared in advertising campaigns for Nike, Pepsi and Neutrogena. She appeared on the Fall 2006 cover of Foam magazine in September, in Men's Edge magazine in August, and was featured in a pictorial in Complex in November 2006, where she later became a columnist.

Munn also appeared in the July/August 2007 issue of Men's Health. In September 2007, she was featured in the Italian Vanity Fair for their "Hot Young Hollywood" Issue. Munn appeared in the Winter/Spring 2009 issue of Men's Health Living.

Activism and charity work

In 2011, Munn teamed up with Dosomething.org's Green Your School Challenge. She was a spokesperson for the campaign by filming a PSA regarding the challenge, and sat on the panel of judges that evaluated the entries.

Munn helped PETA with a campaign that ultimately freed an ill elephant from a touring circus. Her blog for The Huffington Post was credited with encouraging fans to contact the USDA on the elephant's behalf. In February 2013, Munn fronted a PETA release of new footage showing cruelty to animals in Chinese fur farms. She appears in the 2021 short film Save Ralph, a film by Humane Society International about animal testing.

Munn has used her platform to speak out against anti-Asian sentiments, harassment, and assaults following the COVID-19 pandemic. Munn was part of a roundtable discussion alongside Stop AAPI Hate co-founder Russell Jeung, RISE founder and CEO Amanda Nguyen with CBS News entitled "Asian Americans Battling Bias: Continuing Crisis."

Personal life

In regard to her faith and work in Deliver Us from Evil, Munn has said that "I didn't believe in the supernatural before this movie." However, after viewing footage from the New York City Police Department of allegedly real-life exorcisms, she stated "I'm a full believer [now]."

She is a black belt in taekwondo.

Munn was in a relationship with NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers from 2014 to 2017. She began dating comedian John Mulaney in 2021, and they announced that Munn was pregnant in September 2021. Their son was born on November 24, 2021. Their son's middle name is Hiệp, which is in honor of Munn's Chinese-Vietnamese cultural background.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

See also

In Spanish: Olivia Munn para niños